Base attachment for ladders



No. 625,066. Patented May 16, |89.

F. s. s zAanAvE. A

BASE ATTACHMENT FOB LADDERS.

(Application filed. Mar. 9, 1899.)

(No Model.)

NrrED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

FREDERIO S. SEAGRAVE, OF COLUMBUS, OHIO.

BASE ATTACHMENT FOR LADDERS.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 625,066, dated May 16, 1899. Application filed March 9, 1899 Serial No. 708,301. (No model.)

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that LFREDERIO S. SEAGRAVE, a citizen of the United States, residing at Golumbus, in the county of Franklin and State of Ohio, have invented acertain new and useful Improvement in Base Attachments for Ladders, of which the following is a specification.

My invention relates to the improvement of adjustable ladder-bases; and the objects of my invention are to provide a ladder or the lower section thereof with an improved supporting-base which will provide a substantial support for the ladder and obviate any tendency toward the same slipping when in a raised position and which at the same time will present an extended bearing-surface for the ladder-section which will support the ladder against leaning or tipping laterally, to so construct my improved ladder-base as to ad mit of the adjustment of the sections thereof to desirable angles, and toproduceother improvements in details of construction and arrangement of parts which will be more fully pointed out hereinafter. These objects I accomplish in the manner illustrated in the accompanying drawings, in which- Figure l is a view in perspective of the lowerportion of aladder having myimproved supporting-base thereon, and Fig. 2 is an enlarged sectional view taken between the adjoining inner ends of said sections.

Similar numerals refer to similar parts throughout both views.

In carrying out my invention I provide the front surface or face of each of the legs 1 of a ladder, ata point near its lower end, with a bracket, which consists of a plate 2, secured to said ladder-leg or to the metallic binding of the lower portion thereof, said plate having projecting therefrom and at an angle with the direction of the length of the ladder-leg a keeper or eyepiece 3, the inclination of the outer arms of these keepers being inward, as shown. Through these keepers are adapted to slide portions of base-sections 4, the bodies of the latter being in the form of inclined beams, the inner ends of which are adapted, as indicated in Fig. 1 of the drawin gs, to meet and abut one against the other at the center-of the width of the ladder. Each of these basesections 4 has secured to its under side and 10, which is aflixed to the central portions of the ladder-rungs.

Between the outer and inner end portions of each of the sections 4 Irecess orcut away portions of the upper sides thereof, whereby the thickness of each of said sections is reduced and inner and outer shoulders 11 and 12 are formed. Only these reduced portions of the base-sections are embraced by the keepers 3, the forward shoulders 11 servingby contact with the upper portions of said keepers to limit the outward movement of the sections and the outer shoulders 12 serving to similarly limit the inward and upward move ment thereof. As indicated at 13,1 provide the outer ends of the sections 4 with oppositely-located downwardly-projecting footplates, thelower projecting ends of which are, as indicated in the drawings, toothed or serrated to insure their proper engagement with the ground or other surface upon which the same may bear.

On the outer end of the bolt 8 I hinge or fulcrum a projection 14 of a hand-ring 15, this ring projection being formed with a cam, extension, which when the ring is turned upward to the position indicated in the drawings exerts sufficient pressure against the lower port-ions of the sections 4 to tightly bind said section between the guide and said cam. It is obvious that when the ring 15 is turned downward and the pressure of the cam thus relieved the sections 4 may be forced inward or outward, resulting in the traveling of the bolt 8 upward or downward in the guide 10, and permitting thereby the desired adjustment of the sections 4. In this manner it is obvious that the distances which the end portions of the base-sections project beyond the sides of the ladder may be readily controlled by the operator,thereby not only admitting of the supporting-base being adapted for bearing in spaces of various Widths, but

admitting of the same being drawn inward in such positions as to be practically out of the way when the ladder is being carried on a truck or not in use.

Although the herein-described ladder-base is of simple construction and operation, it will readily be seen that its use will provide a safe and substantial bearing for a ladder orlower section thereof which will not only resist tendency toward slipping outward, but which will also resist any tendency toward a lateral or tipping movement of the ladder in either direction.

In case the bearing-feet of one of the beamsections should rest upon a more yielding surface than the other it is obvious that the tendency toward that side of the ladder sinking would be greatly overcome by the contact of the under side of the beam-section with the ground after the sinking of the toothed projections of the feet 13. It will thus be seen that not only is the ladder provided with a lateral extended base, which will insure a substantial bearin g of a lower ladder-section, but that by its use the mounting of ladders by firemen and others may be conducted with comparative safety, whether the same be supported upon a smooth or uneven surface.

Having now fully described myinvention, what I claim, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is

1. In abase attachment forladders,the com bination with a ladder-frame, and keepers projecting from the legs thereof of a base attachment formed of two sections and having a sliding support in said keepers, a central guide carried on said ladder-section and means for locking the inner ends of said basesections at different heights on said guide,substantially as specified.

2. In a base attachment for ladders,the combination with a ladder-section and keepers projecting from the legs thereof, of a base consisting of jointedly-connected sections 4, said sections passing through said keepers, a guide on said ladder-section and means for locking said base-sections at different heights on said guide, substantially as specified.

In a base attachment forladders,the combination with a ladder-section, keepers projecting from the legs thereof and a central guide carried on said ladder, of base-sections 4, a bolt hinging the inner ends of said sections and having a sliding engagement with said guide and a handpiece fulcrumed to the outer end of said bolt and having a cam projection, substantially as specified.

FREDERIC S. SEAGRAVE.

In presence of- O. O. SHEPHERD, EDWARD M. TAYLOR. 

